This last week, I was driving from a meeting in Bluffdale to an appointment in West Ogden. I was so late from the first meeting I had to cancel a meeting in Midvale that day. That was extra crappy because my car had broken down this week and I had to borrow my brother’s truck. It costs more ...

I met some terrible people in prison and I also met some really good people. I remain in contact with three of the men who would fall into that latter category. Two of them I see and talk to all the time, but the other lives in Nevada with his wife and kids, so we see each other less. All of us ...

A couple of days ago at the grocery store, I ran into my drug court defense attorney. He asked how I was and I told him great. He asked if I was still writing for the paper and I asked if he was still the drug court attorney, which he was.I could have left things at those pleasantries, but I ...

Last week, a man I knew from prison reached out to me and said he was looking for work. He told me he had “messed up a few times” (meaning he had used drugs.) He said, “It’s hard, you know?” He had made some assumptions about me and I had made some assumptions about him. We were both ...

Recently, I looked up and connected with a man named Michael Santos on LinkedIn. When I was in prison, I watched a video of Michael speaking at Stanford University. I also read a paper he wrote about education being the most effective tool in combating recidivism. Michael Santos served 26 years ...

Part of one’s acclimation from prison to the outside world is going from the constant interaction with other people, where it’s impossible to get time alone, to perhaps a situation where alone is the norm. And in my life before going to prison, there really hadn’t been another time where ...